Searching for information online has become such a routine daily activity that the world’s biggest search engine brand has also become a commonplace verb. Anything we need to know is at our fingertips; all we have to do is Google it.
And yet some are still unconvinced by online marketing, preferring to see ink on the page rather than views online.
Personally, I believe that the... Read More

Anyone who has ever been to a job interview has probably heard the question ‘where do you see yourself in five years time?’ But how many companies ask that about their brand?
For many, branding or rebranding their company, product or service is something they see as a project – it has a start, middle and end, just like any good story. Except, no story ever really has an end…because... Read More

They say a picture tells a thousand words. I say, we need to be using more pictures that tell their own story.
Traditionally, in PR, advertising, direct mail… pictures have been used to illustrate the words, and that was fine. But we’ve moved on since then. There is still a role for pictures in that context but images can do so much more. With the advent of social media, the... Read More

It’s astonishing to think that BT’s ‘It’s Good to Talk’ advertising campaign was now broadcast more than 20 years ago. Since then, the phrase has entered the English language like a well worn proverb and, this week, it’s something that Ed Milliband has put at the top of his agenda, calling for a public version of Prime Minister’s Questions.
It’s an interesting idea... Read More

While the UK looks forward to the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this week, swimming fans in Birmingham have been fighting to protect a pool that has had somewhat less investment than the Games’ Tollcross International Swimming Centre.
More than 100 swimmers posed in the now unused ‘Gala Pool’ at the Grade II* listed Mosely Road Baths in Birmingham, which... Read More

From housing to utilities infrastructure, the big news in the construction sector at the moment is all about frameworks.
For the winners, it’s not just big news; it’s great news. A place on a framework is a virtual guarantee of future work and a significant feather in the cap. For those that miss out, however, frameworks can become a closed door to working for that particular... Read More

The eyes of the world’s sports fans strayed momentarily from Brazil to good old Blighty last weekend as the stars aligned to bring the British Grand Prix, the Wimbledon finals and the Tour de France to England all on the same weekend.
Of all of these, the Tour de France was by far the most momentous. The men’s final at Wimbledon may have been a five set nail biter, but a version... Read More

The sight of Dolly Parton singing ‘Jolene’ to the delight of thousands at Glastonbury was a bit of an epiphany for me this weekend.
I may not have been lucky enough to actually be in the crowd but the significance of the queen of country music playing to festival goers, most of whom weren’t born when ‘Jolene’ was first released, jumped off the TV screen.
This was an audacious... Read More

For those that work in the electrical sector, or those who depend on electrical contractors on site, it will be an interesting week this week.
With electricians rejecting the latest pay offer from contractors, there could be strike action ahead, which will not only affect the M&E sector but could cause disarray across the whole construction delivery chain.
From a business continuity... Read More

In the early stages of working with one of my former clients, the company’s managing director proudly declared to me ‘We are the best kept secret in our sector.’
To him the comment smacked of quality and exclusivity. To me it demonstrated that there was a big job to be done!
This weekend, writing in the Mail on Sunday, the prime minister declared that we must all be less... Read More